Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 175-185(1980). The Evolution of Pomo Society M. A. BAUMHOFF HIS paper summarizes some ideas that (Heizer 1966) but is not recognized by any Thave occurred to me about North Coast other ethnographer, these lands having been Range archaeology while thinking about data included by both Barrett and Stewart in the derived from excavations on Dry Creek, territory of the Mahakamotcemei or Clover- Sonoma County, California. The excavations dale Pomo, although they did not, so far as I there were performed at the request of the U.S. can tell, discuss this question with anyone who Army Corps of Engineers as a part of an had lived in the relevant territory. It seemed archaeological evaluation of the Warm apparent on archaeological grounds to those Springs Dam Project. This being so, the ideas of us working at Warm Springs that this land generated are immediately applicable only to must have been that of an autonomous tribelet; 60 or so archaeological sites along a short otherwise we were at a loss to account for the stretch of Dry Creek and its tributaries. Some complex of sites centering around what were of my conclusions, however, have inherently evidently large winter villages at CA-Son-593 greater generality and all of them have some and 582 (Fig. 1). We were gratified therefore to relevance to Pomo archaeology as a whole. note that Merriam, at least, had recorded it as a That is not to say the conclusions are correct; separate tribelet (Heizer 1966). archaeological conclusions are almost never The archaeological sequence for the Warm correct in the long run, at least not as they are Springs area as I see it is shown in Fig. 2. The specifically formulated, but insofar as they are basic chronological scheme is that of Fredrick- concretely stated they can always be used as son (1974:fig. 2) modified in the following hypotheses leading to further development. ways: Fredrickson's Borax Lake Aspect and The details of site description and specimen Houx Aspect have each been subdivided into provenience are contained in the report of early and late periods; the mortar and pestle Baumhoff and Orlins (1979). replace the mano-metate complex a thousand The area we are concerned with is a small or so years later than he would see it; typologi­ valley in the North Coast Range about 25 miles cal relationships are somewhat modified and southwest of Clear Lake (Fig. I). It constitutes are more detailed. The specific typological only a third of the area covered by the Warm relationships shown are partly Fredrickson's Springs Dam Project, although it contains but are modified by consideration of more than half the sites (37 out of 63); I believe Meighan's (1955) data from Willits and especi­ it to be the core of a tribelet territory. This ally by stratigraphic relationships at Warm tribelet is given the name Shakowe by Merriam Springs.' The Post Pattern, shown as the earliest M. A. Baumhoff, Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of California, phase on Fig. 2, may or may not be represented Davis, CA 95616. in the material excavated at Warm Springs. [175] 176 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY ^ E 00 o. u u oB 9 cr u c u o 60 en < CD < > \ EVOLUTION OF POMO SOCIETY 177 o O o o o O o o o CD O o o o o o o cvj o lO in o in o c o -00- "5 •3! -Qt5- 00 c o D. C/3 o o c ID 3 "5 SO o fN eh 3|D1 A|JD3 9JD1 A|JD3 4oads\/ xnoH P9ds\/ 8)|D"1 XDJOg UJdUDd A8{9>|J3g UJ9UDd S^D"! XDJOg UJ3HDd »S0d 178 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY None of the characteristic artifact types (fluted this paper discusses the Borax Lake and Houx points or crescents) were recovered but there is Aspects. some possibility it was manifested. This possi­ Tables I and 2 summarize some of the bility is discussed in more detail elsewhere salient characteristics of particular sites, (Baumhoff and Orlins 1979). The remainder of phases, and site types of the Shakowe tribelet. Table 1 SITE CHARACTERISTICS BY TYPE AND PHASE Chert/Obsidian Reworked Projectile Site Depth (cm.) Ratio No. Flakes Biface Points Late Houx Village 593 70 0.14 1043 Hamlet 567 20 4.42 65 568 80 4.28 586 584 40 3.35 287 Station 572 20 0.48 151 576 50 4.09 280 583 30 9.79 329 Early Houx Village 593 40 0.49 257 Hamlet 567 80 2.64 315 568 50 12.27 146 Station 571 80 0.06 4454 23 19 572 50 0.40 485 2 2 576 140 1.03 542 2 3 Late Borax Lake Village 582 80 1.40 867 Hamlet 593 70 7.50 51 608 80 1.40 1122 597 50 4.47 711 Station 571 50 0.21 791 572 30 3.06 418 Early Borax Lake Village 582 50 4.00 60 Hamlet 593 30 7.00 24 597 110 19.02 301 Station 583 60 3.81 289 572 40 61.71 439 EVOLUTION OF POMO SOCIETY 179 There is reason to believe at least some tribelet activity; reworked bifaces, a specialized boundaries are very ancient and I will here industry of the North Coast Range, are in­ treat the sites listed in Table 1 as if they repre­ cluded to show the growth of a local activity; sented the same tribelet for more than 5000 and projectile point frequencies may be years. The site types of village, hamlet, and compared to similar statistics from other areas. station are basically size categories.^ Stations Before attempting a summary of the were sites suitable for one or at most two material shown in Tables 1 and 2,1 should first houses, hamlets for five to 10 houses, and say a word about petroglyphs. Typical petro- villages about 50 houses, these figures being glyphs of the North Coast Range are of the sort derived from the broader study done by Cook that Heizer and I some years ago called pit- and Heizer (1965). The quantitative char­ and-groove (Heizer and Baumhoff 1962:234- acteristics shown are chosen to illustrate some 238). We felt then that the style dated from of the processes which took place during the 5000 to 3000 B.C. Although it is (and was) clear several millenia represented: the chert- that our grounds for such specific dating were obsidian ratio is a measure of trade, the chert flimsy at best, a beginning date in that time being all local while obsidian was obtained range still seems reasonable to me. It is also from extra-territorial sources; debitage true that this style of petroglyph continued (in frequency is a rough measure of stone-working the North Coast Range but not elsewhere) to Table 2 SITE CHARACTERISTIC SUMMARIES per m' Chert/Obsidian Reworked Projectile Ratio Debitage Bifaces Points Villages Hb 0.14 1490 4.3 8.6 Ha 0.49 643 — — BLb 1.40 1083 2.9 7.9 BLa 4.00 120 — — Hamlets Hb 3.96 655 1.4 8.6 Ha 3.75 359 1.5 4.6 BLb 2.12 942 1.0 2.3 BLa 17.06 232 — 1.4 Stations Hb 3.06 760 3.0 7.0 Ha 0.12 2030 10.0 8.9 BLb 0.62 1511 3.8 5.0 BLa 9.86 728 — 2.0 Totals by Phase Hb l.ll 878 2.6 8.1 Ha 0.20 1402 6.6 6.8 BLb 1.30 1100 1.9 4.2 BLa 10.47 384 — 1.4 Totals by Site Type Village 0.52 927 2.1 5.0 Hamlet 2.97 588 1.0 4.1 Station 0.35 1487 6.0 6.7 Grand Totals 0.70 992 3.7 5.8 180 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY be made up into the ethnographic period when notable center in the next period. It will be they were known as baby rocks (Pomo) and recalled that the largest petroglyphs are rain rocks (Karok and others). In the area located near these sites at a time conjectured to shown in Fig. 1, nine petroglyph sites have begin in Late Borax Lake Time. The chert- been identified, nearly all of them of the pitted obsidian ratio decreases markedly here, or cupule variety with only one or two grooves indicating much increased trade, the figure recorded. The occurrences vary from three or being primarily due to material from site Son- four pits on a small (less than one m.) boulder 571. It is also at this time that we find the to three instances in which hundreds or beginning of the reworked biface industry."^ thousands of pits are found on rocks several In the early Houx period we see a general meters in diameter. The latter situation is shift upstream: the major village shifts about a found in the upper part of the area in and mile up to Son-593, all the sites around Cherry around sites Son-568, 571, and 572. Creek and Yorty Creek are abandoned (except For my purpose it is necessary to attempt the station at Son-576), and the population dating of the petroglyphs. The cultural deposit around the 571-572 nucleus explodes with the at the three sites listed occurs mainly in the two establishment of hamlets above and below. middle phases (late Borax Lake and early The obsidian industry flowers at this time, Houx) with very little before or after.